Something of a Legal Roundup

Torturing Kittens
Yes, mutilating kittens is wrong. It's wrong to use 14 gauge needles to pierce their ears and necks, and it's wrong to tie string around their tails so tightly that it causes them to fall off. Hell, a jury even said so.

Story Link Here.

It's often been said, but I've found this to be true: anyone capable of this kind of animal cruelty is capable of far worse. Let's hope that there is a sufficiently long jail sentence to go along with this madness. Oh, and I'm not shedding a tear that the individual in question can no longer have pets. Too bad. This "person" should have thought of that before torturing the kittens.

One final thought: some of NEPAs enlightened crowd (via postings to the Scranton Times article) have claimed that what was done to those kittens was no worse than having an infant's ears pierced. I was being sarcastic in that last comment, which is apparently something I'm gaining a reputation for these days. Anyway, that kind of thought...comparing the kittens to infants...would be true if stupid parents also tied strings around the fingers of their babies in order to have one or more digits fall off. Case closed.


Relations with a Mentally Retarded Woman is Deemed Consensual
Story Link Here.

Yes, according to a jury, it is possible to have consensual sexual relations with someone having the mental capacity of a 9 year old. Never mind the fact that in Pennsylvania the actual age of consent is 16 years old, as apparently that's subject to a kind of legal "your exact words" test, at least as far as the jury was concerned. Look, I wasn't there so I can't claim any insight other than what I read. However I do have some experience working with mentally handicapped individuals (having spent my holidays and summers working for Keystone Community Resources when I was in college), and it seems pretty clear to me that the prosecutor was right in this case: the lady in question doesn't understand what sex, marriage or pregnancy are, let alone be able to consent to any kind of "relationship".

Maybe I'm way off base here, but this just seem so very, very wrong.